Techniques for thickening/stabilizing liquids are industrially very important. For example, mayonnaise and salad dressing, which are emulsions in a metastable state, can stably maintain the emulsified state over the long term because an aqueous component is thickened/stabilized. For the thickening/stabilizing techniques, various thickening/stabilizing agents have been developed.
For example, alkyl acrylate copolymers are known as compounds that thicken/stabilize aqueous media (aqueous vehicles).
In contrast, 12-hydroxystearic acid is known as a thickening/stabilizing agent for fluid organic substances (e.g., Patent Literature (PTL) 1). The fluid organic substances are exemplified by oily media and other organic substances having fluidity. The 12-hydroxystearic acid is mainly used for waste disposal of edible oils with utilizing its gelatinizing activity. However, 12-hydroxystearic acid is unadjustable in degree of gelatinization, and the target component can only be brought into a completely solidified state or remain in a liquid state as intact. Namely, under present circumstances, there has not yet been found a compound that thickens or gelatinize a fluid organic substance to a desired viscosity.